Electrical questions, post em here!

Enigma said:

Have you checked out the T5's?

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no i would DEFINATELY prefer t5 but i need either 18" long or 30" long as my closet is 23"x34" si i need to fit either way...ill see if they have the t5 in the size i need.

BigBudBalls said:

Do not wire in series! Get a small gangbox, wire in parallel and have just the one cord coming out of the gangbox

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proper electrical language, lol ya i knew series prob wasnt the word i wanted, but basically i want 1 plug for all the lights could you give me a little run down on how to do this BBB.

thankz a million bro

i was thinkin on my own a little and common sense kind of kicked in, so i could run each light into a gangbox and just wire all the appropiate wires together and run 1 plug out that obviously is wired to the appropriate terminals and im good?

simple question ppl(well for you lot) im just about to start my grow im going to be using 2 x 600w hps sylvania "DUAL SPECTRUM" lamps from start to finish. I am very new to this but was adviced by someone to use these type or do you think i should use mh for the vegie stage?

i've heard hps still work very well for veg stage.

doesnt matter what spectrum u use in veg you dont get a HUGE advantage from metal halide, all MH does is take the hps spectrum out of the light. your fine 2 600 is prob the most efficient setup there is next to 1 1000 and a light mover. im using a lamp that supports both hps and mh and i run my veg area on 24 hr lite with a hps bulb in it.

https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/58366-sog-harvest-often.html

cmak40 said:

i was thinkin on my own a little and common sense kind of kicked in, so i could run each light into a gangbox and just wire all the appropiate wires together and run 1 plug out that obviously is wired to the appropriate terminals and im good?

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More or less. The best physical layout depends on the application, you can have wiring that looks pretty different in terms of its physical arrangement but is more or less electrically equivalent.

If you're not mounting lights in a room but rather building a long fixture, sometimes it's better to run the main power cable the length of the fixture and use smaller junction boxes to wire each socket as a branch from that cable rather than trying to cram a bunch of splices all into one central gang box, with a bunch of leads from each socket running the length of the fixture to the gang box. But that's an engineering/design concern, not really an electrical one (aside from safety concerns in terms of where and how you're making your connections.)

cmak40 said:

proper electrical language, lol ya i knew series prob wasnt the word i wanted, but basically i want 1 plug for all the lights could you give me a little run down on how to do this BBB.

thankz a million bro

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All the Line side tied to one terminal (usually black)
All Neutral side tied to on terminal (usually white)
All Grounds tied to on terminal (usually green or green with yellow tracer line)

Still a little perplexed about grounding in the US. Neutral is tied to the ground at the panel.
(a 480 triple phase grounded leg Delta threw me for a loop at a customer. Wild leg, I was used to.)

Not sure about what you got, but just a power strip can work fine too.

(just a note on the power strips: They are useless for protecting stuff. Its just a MOV and they last about 6-12 months with NO sign of wearing out.)
So on that note, but cheap or outlet configuration you want. But don't expect it to do anything 'good' for ya. If ya want good protection that will last look at the line conditioners from triplite or the like. but expect t pay (but thats for electronics/computers, not these crude lights)

If you do want some kind of line conditioning/monitoring, I've never had cause for complaint using Furman products. The Merit series usually gets it done.

Argh, I used to know why the NEC says the ground is only to be tied to neutral at the panel....it's to prevent a particular kind of fault from mis-wiring.....let me see if I can find it....

tokenchokenpassnsmoke said:

yea you should check if the bulbs handle 120 or 240

if you need a 240 volt circuit you can upgrade an existing outlet
first of all the wire leading from your breaker box to the electrical box where the receptacle is needs to be at least 12 gauge for 240volts
second turn off the power to that circuit, open the electrical box and see if that outlet can handle the 240 volts, replace the outlet with one that can if needed
third after those two things are in check, turn off your power main in the breaker box and swap the 120 volt breaker that supplies that circuit with a breaker rated for 240 -or- you can add another 120 breaker onto the panel, add a tail to the wire coming from the circuit, hook the hot wire up to the new breaker and install the neutral and ground to the applicable place

i know probably totally irrelevant to your problem, but just a tidbit of knowledge to be passed along

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actually wire isnt rated in volts its rated in amps 12 Awg wire is normally good for 20 amps, 14awg good for 15 amps.

also for 240 volts you would need a double pole breaker and depending on the amperage you plan to use on that breaker you choose your amperage that way. But your wire must not be rated for a higher amperage than your breaker, outlets are also rated in amps, a regular outlet is rated at 15 amps so if going with double pole 20 amp breaker with 12 awg wire you need a receptacle rated for 20 amps.

are clf's polorized plugs? if i wire them wrong will they die?

corester123 said:

are clf's polorized plugs? if i wire them wrong will they die?

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No,they have to work in old non-polarized fixtures, they are retro-fitted all the time ,

jimmyspaz said:

No,they have to work in old non-polarized fixtures, they are retro-fitted all the time ,

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YAY

Hey corester123,

Yep they are right. AC circuits are a little more forgiving (SOMETIMES) but why not hook them right from the get go? Just a few tips.

Black is the HOT lead. On a socket, this will be the lead that goes to the center post on the bulb. (Smack dab in the middle, the eyeball or nipple to say - {I like nipples})

White is the NEUTRAL lead. This is the lead that goes to the assembly that is threaded on the socket (In other words, where the bulb screws into, the inner outside of the socket or the female part of the socket).

Heck, this is getting sexual! My apologies to the lady's in the forum.

Green is the GROUND (if it has one). The ground is hooked to any metal portion of the assembly that holds the socket (For example, if it was a metal lamp you had sitting on a table, it would be hooked to any part of the lamp housing). The purpose of the ground is if there is a short circuit in your wiring and you touch it, the electricity is grounded (since somewhere in your house, there is a metal tube that goes into the GROUND) and travels to the entire planet earth, which is MUCH larger than you, so you get less of a shock - (resistance and all that technical junk).

On a plug, if it is a polarized plug (the ones with two prongs, one fat at the end and the other slimmer), It's self grounded. I don't like these (CACA)!!!!!! Yes they are safe BUT all my stuff is three prongs, Hot, Neutral and Ground. Spend a few bucks more to not burn your stuff up! (Like your house, your kids and maybe your old lady, Hmmmmm,,, strike the last one, glad my old lady don't get high!)! ---- (Just kidding)

If you insist on using the self grounded stuff the wires that have ridges in them or a stripe on them are USUALLY the polarized side (self grounded) EXCEPT SOMETIMES there are no ridges (smooth) and then USUALLY, the wire with the printing on it MAY be the polarized ground (Always check EVERYTHING, I TRUST NO ONE).

If you insist on using the self grounded stuff, take like a 9 volt battery, hook one side with a piece of scrap wire to the polarized plug (the fat end) and wrap the other end (stripped as in naked of insulation of course) around the base of a cheap 12 volt Christmas or 12 volt auto light bulb. Then touch the tip of the bulb (nipple), to the remaining battery terminal to determine what your leads are.

Once you determine which lead the power is going through (remember, you hooked the battery to the fat plug), Make sure this lead is hooked to the WHITE wire on your socket. (The GROUNDED plug).

OR, just bypass all this shit, protect your shit, and use a three prong dedicated ground for all your shit (That's what I do)!

(SHIT, hope I can say shit!)

A couple other tips:

Before working on a fixture, use a probe on exposed wiring to make sure it's not energized. They only cost a few dollars. Don't rely on the breaker and DEFINITELY don't rely on the wall-switch. Take a second and make sure there's no power before you stick a screwdriver in there.

When wiring outlets ALWAYS test them to make sure they are correctly wired when done. Outlet circuit testers are dirt cheap and will show you if you've reversed the polarity or have a bad ground.

By the same token, I test all existing outlets to make sure they're wired correctly before I plug in sensitive equipment for the first time.

And anything near water needs to be on a GFCI, not just grounded. Don't take any shortcuts there. If you don't trust yourself to replace an older outlet with a GFCI outlet, then there are plug-in GFCIs available (although they wont protect 'downstream' outlets on the circuit as a GFCI outlet would [i.e. outlets wired to the 'load' side of the GFCI.])

how much would it cost to run a 1000 watt hps and 1000 watt metal halide roughly ?

He told you that? Dumb ass, no you need a ballast. Hes the dumb ass.

Yeah, the only thing you really want to ask Home Depot employees is where something is.

Actually, I'm amazed you managed to find one. I think they train them in customer evasion.

lol ya. i though they would at least know if they had a bike pump with out 3 the employee asking 3 people but thats anouther story how much are ballast's for 400w MH

My friend gave me two Halo light fixtures that he had. They seem to be good for my small test grow, just one plant.

The only problem is that there is no simple outlet plug. It has a box on the side of the fixture that connects to the socket. Inside the box are the common black/white/copper wires. I already zapped myself trying to rig them to my wall. Is there some easy way to just connect these wires to some other appliances plug so I can plug it into an average wall inlet?

Bomb Tree said:

My friend gave me two Halo light fixtures that he had. They seem to be good for my small test grow, just one plant.

The only problem is that there is no simple outlet plug. It has a box on the side of the fixture that connects to the socket. Inside the box are the common black/white/copper wires. I already zapped myself trying to rig them to my wall. Is there some easy way to just connect these wires to some other appliances plug so I can plug it into an average wall inlet?

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Buy a power supply cord, or lop the end off of a spare computer power cord. Secure the splices with wire nuts and electrical tape. Are you sure they take 120 VAC?